


Run

by emeraldfire512



Series: Missing Moments - Harry Potter [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Weasley Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-06
Updated: 2015-03-08
Packaged: 2018-03-16 15:07:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3492896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emeraldfire512/pseuds/emeraldfire512
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Deathly Hallows missing moment. Once the trio arrives at his home, broken and battered, Bill immediately heads to his childhood home, to warn his family that they are no longer safe. Mostly Bill and Arthur centric.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Bill Weasley landed in front of his childhood home on alert.

Within moments of appearing, he had his wand out, surveying the area for threats. He needed to make sure that there were no witnesses before he entered the warded area, to keep others from knowing it existed.

After assuring himself that he was truly alone, he made for the front door at a sprint. He tore open the door to the kitchen, looking around in a panic. All seemed normal, and calm. But there was no one to be seen.

"Dad? Mum?" he bellowed through the house, badly containing his panic.

He crossed the kitchen at a jog, heading towards the sitting room. As he rounded the corner he found himself physically colliding with his father, who reached for his shoulder to steady himself.

"Bill?" he asked in surprise. "What are you doing here?" Taking note of his eldest son's panicked expression for the first time, his tone changed, "What's happened?"

"We need to go right now. Everybody needs to grab their things, and you all need to get out of here."

His father looked as if he was going to ask another question but Bill cut him off, "Now Dad! There's no time for explanations. I'll explain more once everyone's out of here, but I don't know how much time we have. We need Ginny too. How are we going to-"

But Arthur interrupted his son before he could finish his question. "Ginny's here. She's home for the Easter holidays. Come upstairs with me and wake everyone up. We've been ready for this for a while – everyone should have a bag packed to leave at a moment's notice."

Bill took a steadying breath and followed his father's quick gait towards the stairs. They were met by his mother on the first landing.

"Bill? What are you doing here? Is everything-"

"Molly," Arthur said, cutting off his wife, "we need to go. Go grab our bags and go straight to Muriel's. Bill and I are going to go get Ginny and the twins. We'll be right behind them."

Bill watched as his mother, with her mouth set but eyes full of fear, turned back up the stairs and hastened to her bedroom. As Molly hurried away, Bill and Arthur continued up the stairs, "you get Fred and George, I'll get Ginny" Arthur called to his son as they reached the landing for the twin's room. Bill nodded and stepped off the staircase, leaving the way clear for his father to hasten towards his sister's room.

Within moments Bill reached the door to the twins' room and threw the door open. "Fred! George! We need to leave, now."

Two red heads popped out of beds and looked blearily at their older brother blankly until his shouted message processed. In tandem, they leaped out of their beds and reached for their wands and ready to go bags. They followed their brother towards the stairs and only spoke once they had exited their bedroom.

"Bill," began Fred, "what's going on? What's happened?"

"There's not time to explain right now. Go downstairs and wait for Ginny. Once she gets downstairs take her and apparate to Muriel's. I'll explain more once we're all out of here."

Fred looked like he was going to argue for more information, but George silenced him with a tug on his arm and a simple, "let's go Gred." With a last look at his oldest brother George led his twin down to the sitting room to wait for Ginny.

Bill watched his younger brothers hasten down the winding staircase and continued up, to find his father. He had gone no more than a few steps when he encountered Ginny, face flushed and hair mussed with sleep. Her brown eyes, however, were open wide and alert.

"Bill!" she exclaimed upon seeing him, screeching to a halt in from of him, "What's going on? Why are you here, why are we leaving?"

Bill placed a terse hand on his sister's arm, "there's no time to explain Gin. You just need to get out of here. Fred and George are waiting for you in the sitting room. They're going to take you to Muriel's. Mum's already left and Dad and I will be right behind you."

Ginny watched him with measured eyes, "something's happened, hasn't it."

Bill saw little point in denying that, "yeah, it has." Ginny looked like she was on the edge of inquiring again, but Bill cut her off, "there really is no time Ginny. Go meet the twins and get to Muriel's. I swear I will explain everything when we get there, alright?"

She watched him for another moment before nodding regretfully, "Alright." She made to move away, but paused, and turned to throw her arms around him. "Be careful Bill," she murmured into his shoulder before rushing down the stairs. Barely taking a moment to register their encounter, Bill rushed back up the stairs towards his father.

He found his father in the uppermost bedroom, trying to reason with the ghoul. "Dad!," he called as he rushed into the room, "What are you doing?"

"We need to get the ghoul out, or at least get him back in the attic. Otherwise they'll know that we were lying about Ron, and – as dense as those death eater types are – it will only be a matter of time before they figure out that he's with Harry."

Bill sucked in his breath. His father looked down at the moaning ghoul with fierce determination, but his eyes betrayed his fear. He had gotten his remaining family out of the house, but he still had one more son on the run to protect, as much as he could.

"Dad," Bill said softly, reaching out to grasp his father's arm, "you don't need to do that."

"I do," Arthur replied grimly. "It's the only thing I can do to make sure that they are safe."

"No Dad," Bill tried again, "they already know."

The horror in his father's eyes stabbed Bill in the gut.

"You mean…" he asked weakly.

"They were captured," Bill said, and watched his father's entire body droop in grief. He stumbled, and grasped onto the foot of Ron's bed for support. His eyes were wide in fear as he turned to look at Bill, a thousand unasked questions hovering on his lips.

Bill reached out and put a hand on his father's shoulder, quickly spouting out the good news, "but they escaped. They made it to my house, and I came straight here. But it makes little difference if they know about the ghoul now. The important thing is that we get out of here, now."

To Bill's immense relief, his father nodded. Arthur turned and resolutely walked out of his youngest son's room. Bill took a moment to survey the room. He took in the glaring orange of the Chuddley Canon's posters and bedspread, the abandoned owl perch a top the wardrobe. These were the last remnants of his youngest brother's childhood, and he could only hope that they would still be there when they next returned to his childhood home.

By the time he reached the sitting room, his Father was already there, with his wand drawn. Bill's immediate thought was that they were too late, that the death eaters had already showed up, but his fears were assuaged when his father looked up at the stairs and explained.

"Strengthening the protective enchantments. Just because we got out safely doesn't mean that we need to make it easy for them to get into our home."

Bill smiled appreciatively and watched as his father gave his wand a final wave.

"That should be enough to hold them for a while," Arthur said with an air of finality.

"Then we should be leaving," Bill reminded his father. With that the two Weasley men exited the Burrow, wands draw. They walked to the border of the enchantments in tense silence, each one surveying the area around them. They reached the apparition point without incident and Bill could not help but to look back at the familiar silhouette of the Burrow. He was snapped back to attention by his father's hand on his shoulder, "This will be over soon Bill, I know it. Then we'll be able to come back here."

Bill nearly had to bite his tongue to keep himself from saying what had really come to mind. Sure it would over soon, but how would it end? How many of his family members would be coming back here? How many of them would survive what lay in store? After what he had seen tonight, when Ron came bursting into his house with tears in his eyes and a battered Hermione in his arms, Bill had his doubts. But they were not doubts that his father needed to be reminded of. So he simply nodded and tried to return his father's smile, without much success. Then, without another word, the two Weasley men apparated away.


	2. Chapter 2

With a pop, father and son appeared at Muriel’s old and stately house. They were instantly met by a group of anxious Weasleys. Molly instantly had her arms around her husband and Bill’s siblings rushed to him. After assuring them that they were fine and that they had not encountered any Death Eaters, Molly herded everyone into the kitchen. 

As they all gathered around the kitchen table, Molly busied herself making tea. 

“Muriel’s gone up to bed,” she said over her shoulder to the two new arrivals, “she said that all this flurry was giving her a headache.”

Bill snorted as he sat down. Arthur merely shook his head good-naturedly. 

“Now Bill,” Molly said as she returned to the table, a tray of tea following at wand point, “I believe you owe us all an explanation.” Bill took a cup of tea and tried to ignore all the eyes now trained on him. He took a sip from his cup and set it down before beginning, staring at it intently. 

“Ron, Harry, and Hermione were captured tonight, “he eventually said to his tea.

There was a series of gasps and sound of broken china that met Bill’s words as he finally looked up. His mother’s eyes were full of tears and it was her cup that lay in pieces on the floor. The twins looked sickened and Ginny had a hand to her mouth. Bill cringed, and continued on quickly, “but they escaped! They escaped and made it to Shell Cottage.”

The relief that spread around the table was palpable. “But know that they know Ron is with Harry and Hermione for sure, I had to make sure that everyone got out of the Burrow before they came looking for you. I’ve put up fidelus around our house and you should do that here too, though this house is already just about as well protected as it can get.”

“Bill,” he mother interrupted, “how are they? How’s Ronnie?”

Bill cringed inwardly. He didn’t want to have to be the one to share the news. “They’re in rough shape,” he relented. “They’re all a little worse for the wear, but mostly okay.”

Arthur looked at his eldest son sharply, “you mean they got away from Death Eaters unscathed?”

Fred interrupted too, “and who captured them? Where did they escape from?”

Bill decided to answer Fred’s question first, “They were captured by Greyback, and they escaped from Malfoy Manor.”

His father nearly growled at the mention of the Malfoys, and Ginny’s face paled considerably. Bill continued before they could ask any more questions, “I don’t know exactly what happened. Harry didn’t look hurt. Ron was a bit bloodied and bruised – it looked like someone had hit him in the face a few times, but he said he was fine. That’s all he would say, but he was a bit in hysterics. He wouldn’t let Fleur look at his injuries; he wanted her to focus on Hermione.”

“Bill,” Ginny asked quietly, “what’s wrong with Hermione.”

This was the part he really did not want to get to. He didn’t want to think about what he had seen before he rushed out of his house, let alone explain it to anyone else. But there was no way around it, really.

“Hermione was tortured,” he said grimly, “cruciatus.” 

And then there were tears in his mother’s eyes again, Fred was swearing, George looked ready to punch something, and his father wrapped an arm around his mother, his own face grim. Ginny looked to her oldest brother in desperation, hoping that he was wrong. She was the first to speak, and when she did, her voice was strained and heavy with tears.

“How bad is she Bill?”

“I don’t know too much,” he admitted, “I rushed to the burrow as soon as I made sure everyone got inside. But Fleur’s looking after her, and Ron won’t leave her side.” He smiled sadly at the memory, “I almost couldn’t get her out of his arms when they showed up. I do know,” he continued giving Ginny’s hand a reassuring squeeze, “that she’s strong. I think she’ll be fine Gin.” Ginny gave him a grateful smile.

“They brought some people with them,” he exclaimed, having suddenly remembered, “they found someone they knew with the snatchers and they rescued him, and they rescued a few others from the dungeons in Malfoy Manor.” Bill paused for dramatic effect, willing to draw this out now that he had some good news to share.

“Who’d they bring Bill?” George asked after a few moments of silence. 

“Well, Olivander for starters.”

Molly gasped, “Olivander? He’s ben missing for almost a year now! I was starting to think the worst.”

Bill smiled, “he’s in rough shape, but he should be fine. They also found a goblin that I know from Gringotts and Dean Thomas. They were both with the snatchers. Griphook’s legs are damaged, but Dean looks perfectly fine.”

The twins whooped at the news that Dean had been found and Ginny smiled. Finally Bill hit the happiest piece of news, “They also found Luna,” he said to Ginny. “She was in Malfoy Manor, and she’s fine.” 

The hesitant smile on Ginny’s face grew to a full-fledged one and the twins high-fived. Molly and Arthur both smiled, happy that the little girl they had known since Ginny’s childhood was safe again. 

Bill sighed. Being the bearer of all news was not something he enjoyed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a lot of filler, but hopefully was still fun. But I felt bad for Bill, so I had to stretch out him giving the good news. I don't think he gets to do that often. There will be more Arthur and Bill in the next chapter, which will be up tomorrow.


	3. Chapter 3

After he finished his cup of tea, Bill glanced at the gaudy gold clock hanging on the wall above the sink. It had been almost an hour since he had left Shell Cottage, Fleur would be getting worried. 

He stood up from the table, and reached for his cloak hanging over the back of his chair. 

His mother was the first to notice his actions, “Are you leaving Bill?”

He gave her a small smile and nodded, “I should really be getting back. I’ve left Fleur with a houseful of people who need to be looked after in one way or another. And I don’t need her to start worrying about me too.”

His mother couldn’t quite manage to mask her disappointment, but she gave him a small smile that spoke volumes of understanding. 

“Of course you do dear. You should hurry, before she has any more time to work her worry up to a panic.”

“You’ll let us know how everyone is, right Bill?” Bill swung his head around to look at Ginny, who was clutching her mug tightly and anxiously awaiting his answer. 

He gave her another smile, “Of course I will Gin. In fact,” he added as he swung his cloak around his shoulders, “you will likely be seeing me sooner than you might think. Our house isn’t quite large enough for everyone in it right now, so if it’s all right with you, I’d like to bring Olivander by once he is feeling better. Maybe Griphook too.”

His mother nodded emphatically, “Of course dear! I’d hate to think of you and Fleur putting that kind of strain on your selves. Don’t worry about a thing, I’ll smooth it out with Muriel.”

With a last nod and a hug each for his mother and Ginny, Bill turned towards the door. He was about to open it when heard his father behind him. He turned to give him a questioning glance to which Arthur responded, “Just thought I’d walk you out son.”

Bill smiled and held the door open wider, allowing his father to exit. 

Once the two eldest Weasley men were on the other side of the now closed door, Arthur turned to his son. 

“What else did you find out about those three? Any idea what they’ve been up to, or where they’ve been?”

Bill shook his head ruefully, “I’ve tried dad. Ron refuses to tell me anything, Hermione was still unconscious when I left, and I haven’t had a chance to talk to Harry yet, but I have a feeling he won’t say anything either. Whatever it is they’re doing, they’re determined to keep it to themselves.”

Arthur ran a weary hand through his thinning hair. “It’s hard to help them we don’t know how.”

Bill sighed and nodded, which his father took as a prompt to continue,

“I’ve spent my entire life trying to make sure that you were all as safe and happy as you could possibly be – er – given are circumstances that is. “

Bill looked at his father wearily, “You were a great father Dad. One of the best. If this is because of what Percy said again--”

“No, no,” his father cut across him. “It’s not that. I just wish there was something more I could do to help them. Every since this all started, I’ve done everything I can think of. I worked with the Ministry to protect the house over the summer, I worked with the Order, I helped Ron transfigure the ghoul for a cover story, and I’ve lied for months about where he is, all in an attempt to protect them. I spent all of those months waiting, hoping to hear some news so I knew they were okay, but at the same time dreading that I might hear something from the wrong person. And now that I finally know where they are, it’s only to realize that all of my worst fears about what they’ve been going through may have been true – and I still can’t help them.”

Bill sucked in a breath as he saw the tears threatening to leave his father’s eyes, “Dad,” he began quietly.

“They’re too young Bill,” Arthur said quietly, “They’re only 18 – Harry not even. I thought that the first war was bad, but that war didn’t have the world putting their hopes on the shoulders of children. Not my Ron, not my children. They should be in Hogwarts, not fighting a war. We should be getting letters from them every month complaining about homework and Quidditch practice, not having them showing up on your doorstep in the middle of the night, hurt and broken. Ron – Ron shouldn’t have to watch the girl he fancies be tortured. It’s too much for them Bill, and we can’t do a damn thing about it.”

Bill stared quietly out into the distance, not sure how to respond to that. His father was right. Bill had been thinking the same thing since Ron had showed up at his house before Christmas. He had been lost and full of self-loathing. He had done nothing but sit quietly and gather all the intel he could find. He jumped at small noises and was constantly on edge. He slept fitfully, and hardly ever quietly. He had nightmares from which he woke up crying, but was determined to hide them from his brother and sister-in-law, convinced that he was already too much of a burden to them. The war had made his youngest brother grow up too fast. But really, that had never been a choice. 

“They never had a choice,” he repeated quietly, causing his father to turn towards him. Noticing his father’s questioning glance, Bill clarified; 

“It’s never been a choice for them. Harry’s fate was decided for him years ago. Ron’s on his first day at Hogwarts when he sat with Harry on the train, and Hermione’s soon after. Harry was meant to fight this war, and our Ron was never going to let him do it alone. They’re smart, the three of them. I suspect they’ve survived more than the rest of us have ever imagined. And the will survive this. I suppose, in the mean time, we can only help as much as we can while they’re with us, and I suppose we’ll have to trust that they’re making the right decisions as well. Regardless of how secretive they’re being,” he added as a begrudging after thought. 

Arthur didn’t seem to have a response to them. The two men resumed their examination of the surrounding landscape for a short period before Arthur clapped a hand on his son’s shoulder, “look after them, will you Bill?”

Bill gave his father a sad smile, “you know I will Dad. For as long as they’ll let me.”

With a last hug, the two Weasley men parted and Bill walked to the apparition point. Upon reaching it, he turned to give his father a reassuring smile before disappearing into the night air. 

A few days later Bill would return with Olivander, only to make excuses that he had to get back home, because they still had a houseful after all. 

A week after that, a very solemn Bill would return to inform his family that the trio had left again, this time taking a goblin with them. As Molly sobbed and the younger siblings exchanged grimaces, Bill and Arthur exchanged an understanding glance over the table. They had done all they could, in the only way the had. 

Now it was up to them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you are a person who has read my other multi chapter stories, don't get used to the quick updates. They are definitely not a new thing. It just happened, this one time. 
> 
> But it's done. What did you think?

**Author's Note:**

> Next chapter will be up tomorrow!


End file.
